hem ashore. We had to
land them on the bare uninhabited island yonder, and a dreary enough
place it was at midnight, in winter, with its rocks, bogs, and heath,
and with a rude sea tumbling over the skerries in front; but it had at
least the recommendation of being safe, and the sky, though black and
wild, was not stormy. I had brought two lanterns ashore: the servant
girl, with the child in her lap, sat beside one of them, in the shelter
of a rock; while my wife, with the other, went walking up and down along
a piece of level sward yonder, waving the light, to attract notice from
the opposite side of the bay. But though it was seen from the windows of
my own house by an attached relative, it was deemed merely a
singularly-distinct apparition of Will o' the Wisp, and so brought us no
assistance. Meanwhile we had carried out a kedge astern of the Betsey,
as the sea was flowing at the time, to keep her from beating in over the
rocks; and then, taking our few movables ashore, we hung on till the
tide rose, and, with our boat alongside ready for escape, succeeded in
warping her into deep water, with the intention of letting her sink
somewhere beyond the influence of the surf, which, without fail, would
have broken her up on the skerry in a few hours, had we suffered her to
remain there. But though, when on the rock, the tide had risen as freely
over the cabin sole inside as over the crags without, in the deep water
the Betsey gave no sign of sinking. I went down to the cabin; the water
was knee-high on the floor, dashing against bed and locker, but it rose
no higher;--the enormous leak had stopped, we knew not how; and, setting
ourselves to the pump, we had in an hour or two a clear ship. The Betsey
is clinker-built below. The elastic oak planks had yielded inwards to
the pressure of the rock, tearing out the fastenings, and admitted the
tide at wide yawning seams; but no sooner was the pressure removed, than
out they sprung again into their places, like bows when the strings are
slackened; and when the carpenter came to overhaul, he found he had
little else to do than to remove a split plank, and to supply a few
dozens of drawn nails."

CHAPTER X.

Isle Ornsay--The Sabbath--A Sailor-minister's Sermon for
Sailors--The Scuir Sermon--Loch Carron--Groups of Moraines--A sheep
District--The Editor of the _Witness_ and the Establishment
Clergyman--Dingwall--Conon-side revisited--The Pond and its
C